


New Promises

by TheUnicornAstronaut



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/F, Future Fic, How Do I Tag, White Rose Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 06:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11457765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnicornAstronaut/pseuds/TheUnicornAstronaut
Summary: Weiss takes a brutal hit by a Beringel, and Ruby hates everyone doting on her. Day one: Protection for White Rose Week!





	New Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Something quick I wrote up for White Rose Week because I felt an overwhelming urge to contribute! This is for the Protection prompt, and I hope I got it? Please Enjoy!  
> Edit: just changed the summary a tiny bit because it was haunting me in my dreams.

Weiss ached. Her head throbbed from the direct punch the Beringel gave her, her arms felt like they would lay limp at her sides at any moment. Blood decorated her once white dress thanks to the hoards of Grimm surprising them at every corner of the castle, and her legs fared much less better. By any means she should already be in a medical tent. The only reason she continued to regulate her breathing and keep her feet moving was the woman in the tattered red cape beside her. 

If she wasn’t here, Ruby would face  _ her  _ all by herself. Which, judging by all their previous encounters, would end up with Ruby severely injured or dead. Weiss was determined to not let that happen. She was prepared to jump into harm’s way if it meant her partner got to live. 

“How you holding up, Weiss?” Ruby asked, sounding even more exhausted than she was. If she could hear properly beyond the thumps of her heart and her closed ears she would hear Ruby’s ragged breathing. 

Weiss grunted. “Been worse.” 

A short, pitiful laugh whispered past her lips. “Good, better than I was expecting.” Silver eyes that seemed to glow in the dark corridor they roamed, trying to find another target or a place to rest. She found none. 

“Why don’t we just stop here for a little while?” Weiss couldn’t take her ribs crying out with every step she took anymore. “Catch our breath, then get back into it.” 

While Weiss collided with the right wall and slid down in quite a pathetic manner, Ruby pursed her lips, head tilted down. That was her ‘Leader Thinking’ face, and she knew exactly what she was going on in there. 

Before they had separated, they promised to meet Blake and Yang in the final room before rushing Salem. They would be the distraction while Ruby and Weiss found a time to strike. If they stopped now they might make them wait or worry, but Weiss did not care. The fatigue on her partner’s face told her decision before she even voiced it.

“Just a little bit. I don’t want Blake and Yang to wait too long.”

“Thank god,” Weiss murmured. Ruby slid down the cold stone, a sigh of relief passing through her lips. There were too many damn rooms in this castle.

For a few moments they sat like that, side by side. Ruby gazed up at the dark ceiling, and Weiss stared straight ahead, attention captured by a brightly lit candle. It was strange sometimes, how they could sit together like this in one of the most dangerous places in the world. They didn’t feel pressured and the silence that enveloped them wasn’t forced. Weiss felt content to just  _ be. _ Even if her body thrummed in pain.

“After this is over we need to talk,” Ruby whispered. Weiss winced. 

“About the kiss?” she hesitantly asked. It wasn’t something she consciously remembered doing, one second Ruby emerged from the collapsing ballroom, and then the other found them lip locked. Of course that was a few rooms before she’d been shot into the ground by a Beringel, so using a concussion as an excuse wasn’t really on the table. Obviously Weiss’s emotional control team had taken a day off because on any other day she could wrangle those feelings back into the boxes she put them in. 

The strangest part of it was, she was sure Ruby had kissed her back. She didn’t know what that meant, but now she knew there was at least something going on. Ruby wasn’t the type of woman to pull a one night stand, or leave things unresolved. Her position as leader made it impossible for her to let things that could damage her team be untouched. 

Despite that, Weiss couldn’t help but hope her partner had the same feelings. 

“Yeah, but before you start driving yourself crazy, you should know something,” She felt Ruby shift and turned to face her. “I knew there was something going on with you for the past few months, but I didn’t think it was anything like this.” Silver eyes bored into hers, and suddenly she felt very, very small. 

“What are yo- we going to do about it?” she managed to question. “I can’t exactly keep looking at you and want to do that again. And it’s dumb, and it’s crazy, and I still don’t know why I did it.” She sighed. 

“But you wanted to do it, right?” 

“Ruby, this really isn’t the best time to talk about this.”

“It’s the perfect time, because when we go through those doors I don’t know if we’re all going to live. I’d rather be honest about everything now than kick myself later if you’re gone and all I have is a forced confession from you and not telling you how I feel,” Ruby’s eyes were always intense, as sharp as Crescent Rose’s blade, the color storm clouds would take before unleashing unforgiving rain and thunder. The shades of gold and red they took in the morning and evening sun were when she found herself thinking of times after all of this was over, when she could just be honest about all of this, not protecting herself from possibly being hurt and protecting Ruby from her own problems and faults. 

She didn’t know how to protect herself from this, being rejected by the one person who’s opinion mattered. Of course, she cared about Yang and Blake, but Ruby went several steps further. There wasn’t an exact moment when she realized when it happened, but she knew what she had to do. Focus on the mission and others around her, crush her own struggles with her bare hands and bury them in the deepest, darkest corners of her mind. When the lives of everyone on Remnant relied on her to kill Salem her own personal struggles of being attracted to her leader were thrust on the back burner, preferably never to be unearthed again. 

“Ruby, can’t this wait until after-”

“No,” Ruby’s voice held a finality to it that made her want to curl in on herself. One of the things Ruby had perfected was her ‘Leader Voice’, which came in handy whenever she needed to strike the fear of a Beowolf into other people. Weiss hated being the recipient. “It can’t. This can’t,  _ us.” _ she waved her hand between them. “We’ve been avoiding this for too long, and now…” 

Silence enveloped them. 

Those damning silver eyes held her captive no matter how much she wanted to look away, to not be in this situation, to continue the mission. There were very few things nowadays that terrified Weiss, and it was confronting her feelings. But now she had to own up to it, and try to work with Ruby.

“Now what?” she asked, Ruby somehow being closer than she thought. She could barely make out her black and red hair that always framed her eyes and cheeks. From here she could distinguish every shade of silver and gray and the little specks of different colors from the candles around them. 

“I don’t really know,” Ruby laughed softly. She could tell she was smiling and resisted looking down. She couldn’t afford another outburst. 

“It’s simple,” Weiss tried to temper her thumping heart, what on Remnant was she  _ doing _ ? “you tell me how you feel. If you really want to get this over with you might as well do it now.” She just wanted to get this over with so her damage control department could start to pick up the pieces. Maybe this time she could permanently protect herself from this. 

If it was possible, Ruby came even closer. She could feel her breath spread across her cheeks, warm and slightly moist. Despite every nerve in her being screaming for her to push Ruby away, to stop this, she stayed right where she was, paralyzed by those captivating silver eyes. 

“I don’t know what I’m doing, but I think showing you would be better,” the words were murmured, but echoed like a broken record in her rapidly spinning head. Nothing made sense anymore. What was she supposed to do with that? How would Ruby show that she didn’t like her? Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell her? What on Remnant is going on?

“Sure, show away,” she found herself whispering. All of the control she had put in place started to completely fall apart the moment she felt Ruby smile again and her eyes darken. 

“Okay.”

Then she was reintroduced to her partner’s black and red hair, and disappointment filled her chest. Hardly a moment later there was a heat against her lips. A strangled sound of surprise left her lips before she relaxed. Her eyes slid shut and she pushed forward just enough to lose any sense of self. If this was the only time she would be able to do this then she wasn’t going to hold back. 

Ruby’s hand found her cheek and she found herself pushed roughly against the dark, damp stone of the wall. For the life of her Weiss couldn’t find it in herself to stop - or if she even wanted to. Briefly, she felt Ruby shift again, a weight settling on her thighs. 

They broke apart, breathing one another’s air with how close they were, but refusing to move away. Weiss wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Ruby’s eyes as dark and focused as they were flicking between her eyes. It felt like she was searching for something. 

Their second and third kisses were much less graceful, their teeth colliding and noses smooshing together painfully. The fourth, fifth, and sixth found her winding her arms around Ruby’s shoulders, her hands snaking into her partners unkempt hair. Ruby’s hands held her shoulders, keeping her close, and when she gave a soft groan her fingers tightened. The sound let her mind clear enough for one rational thought to surface. 

Here they were, on the most important mission of their lives, discussing their feelings and making out. The world depended on them to kill Salem, and she was trying to get Ruby to open her mouth. She had nearly lost all her Aura pushing her out of the way, the ache in her ribs reminding her of what they were supposed to be doing. As much as she was floating in the clouds, the weight of the world plummeted her to ground zero. 

As much as she didn’t want to, Weiss broke off the kiss and slid her hands down to push Ruby back to a safe distance. She felt weak as she breathed cold, clean air devoid of Ruby’s scent. 

“Ruby,” she said, her voice an octave lower than she anticipated. 

For her part, Ruby looked wholly shellshocked and slightly fearful. Her eyebrows almost blended in with her long bangs, and her irises were the widest she’d seen them in a long time. “W-What? What, did I do something wrong?” 

“No! No, you did nothing wrong!” she assured. “That was just… really sudden.” Weiss struggled to pull her thoughts above the fading memory of Ruby’s mouth on hers. 

“Yeah,” Ruby gave a nervous laugh, “I’m surprised I did that too. I didn’t mean to be so direct.”

“Really?” 

“Yes!” Ruby got off her lap and sat next to her. “I guess seeing you get hurt like that affected me more than I thought. Was that okay? Kissing you?” Weiss was hit again with Ruby’s selfless personality. She never wanted others to worry about her, all she cared about was making sure those she loved were okay. It was a quality she loved and hated.

“It - it was fine. Fantastic,” she stammered, her traitorous cheeks darkening.  “But what about you? I pushed you pretty hard back there.” 

“Me?” Ruby almost shouted as she turned to her. “You took a fist to the face and then another to the ribs! A sore shoulder is nothing compared to a concussion and bruised or broken ribs.”

“I’m fine, though,” Weiss said. Already she could feel her Aura reserves replenishing at a steady rate. “I can hear clearly now, and my Aura’s fixing my ribs. I should be fine in a few minutes.” She stared into Ruby’s eyes, begging her partner not to blame herself for something out of her control. There was no way for them to have predicted a Beringel charging through the roof. 

“I should’ve been able to protect us both,” she spat and turned to stare at her lap. Sirens began wailing in Weiss’s head, and she quickly tried to derail Ruby’s dangerous train of thought. 

“You shouldn’t try and protect us all the time, we can take care of ourselves just like we know you can.”

“But you don’t!” Ruby’s voice cracked. “You say you trust me and that you have my back, but you - all of you - try to keep me in the dark! Every single time! I know I’m not okay here,” she harshly poked the side of her head, “but that doesn’t mean I should be treated differently. Even during a fight after I take a bad hit all of you come rushing over like I’m a baby bird that doesn’t know how to fly. I’m supposed to be the leader of our team, I’m supposed to lead us to kill Salem, but sometimes I feel like I can’t. I…” Weiss watched with a heavy heart as her best friend wiped her tears on the back of her tattered sleeve. “I feel worthless.”

“I’m sorry, Ruby,” she dared shifting closer to the caped woman, slowly as to not spook her in this state of vulnerability. The empty space grew smaller and smaller until Weiss was able to bring Ruby in for a gentle side hug.

“I’m sorry for taking all of this out on you. It’s not fair,” Ruby sniffed and rested her head on the back of the wall. 

“It’s okay, I’m glad you’re sharing your feelings with me,” Weiss said, breathing a sigh of relief. Ruby had a tendency of burying her emotions, letting them fester until her mind couldn’t take it. “I don’t think we purposefully hide things from you, but we know what sets you off. You of all people should know how awful one of your attacks are. We want to help you get better up here,” she gently rubbed the side of Ruby’s head, “but you have to let us.”

“I want to be able to help myself, Weiss,” Ruby seethed. “Every step I take is matched by you guys, but sometimes I have to walk this path alone. I want to be independent, I want to be the leader you guys want me to be - what the  _ world _ wants me to be.” 

“Ruby, look at me,” her partner wasted no time in snapping her head to look at her, “We all follow you  _ because _ you are our leader. You know I don’t tolerate incompetent, arrogant fools who think they can lead a platoon of a thousand soldiers. I listen and I serve leaders that prove themselves, that put in the work and understand what their underlings are going through. 

“You have proven, time and time again, that not only are you a worthy leader, you care about the entire world. That’s why they look up to us - to you. 

“When we take a devastating hit you’re there to help us any way you can. When you’re hurt it’s our responsibility to take care of you, no matter what. I will never, and I mean  _ never _ let you go into a fight by yourself. I refuse to entertain the thought of me not being there when you need me most, whether it’s late at night after a night terror, or when a Beringel crashes through the ceiling. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m  _ protecting  _ you, rather I’m  _ there _ for you. I’ll stay by your side even if that means I could die. We’re Huntresses, Ruby, we’ve known what that title entails, and I will keep the promise I made so many years ago.”

Ruby’s mouth gaped open and closed itself several times, much like the pathetic fish she’d see flopping about near the docks back in Vale. A small blush touched her cheeks, she hadn’t expected to get so passionate and make a grand speech about her protectiveness over her leader. 

“I-I…” Ruby stumbled over herself several times. She stopped and took a deep breath. “Thanks, Weiss, that means a lot. I think more than you can imagine.” 

“I’m just trying to be the best partner I can be,” she replied on autopilot. Weiss was still trying to wrap her head around everything she’d said. There were a few times in her life that she gave a piece of herself to someone like that - wholly honest and genuine. While she felt a twinge of embarrassment, the relief and happiness starting to sparkle in Ruby’s eyes lit a fire in her belly that was similar to when they had kissed a few minutes earlier. 

“Deep down I know you’re right, and while I want to believe that there’s too much pain blocking my way. But,” Ruby pulled herself out of Weiss’s grasp and stood, “there’s something I can do. Weiss, after we’re done today I want to take it easy. Go back home and rest. Talk to somebody about my problems so I can help you guys.” She bent down and held a hand out. 

“And I’d like it if,” both of them grunted as Weiss was pulled up, “you’d come with me?”  

She beamed at Ruby. “For as long as you’ll have me.”

**Author's Note:**

> If there's anything I can improve on let me know! All comments are appreciated. I had my sister read over this multiple times, but I didn't really rewrite it as much as I'd wanted. Thank you for reading!


End file.
